First Flight in Georgia: Site of Ben Epps' Garage

First Flight in Georgia: Site of Ben Epps' Garage is a Georgia historical marker in Clarke County, dedicated 2007.

On East Washington Street in Athens.

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Georgia's pioneer aviator, Benjamin Thomas Epps, was born in Oconee County in 1888. He opened Athens' first automobile repair garage at this location on East Washington Street in 1907. That same year, nineteen-year-old Epps designed and built his first airplane here - a monoplane with an upright buggy seat, bicycle wheels, and a 35-foot wingspan powered by a fifteen-horsepower French Anzani engine. Its successful flight earned him recognition as the father of Georgia aviation. Epps tested his aircraft and operated a flying service at what is now Athens-Ben Epps Airport. He died of injuries suffered in a plane crash in 1937 at the age of forty-nine.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1866 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1869 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1895 · Gen. map VIII. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1901 · Map of South Carolina (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
Historical map (Historical map archives, georeferenced via Allmaps)

Gen. map VIII, 1895, covering the location of First Flight in Georgia: Site of Ben Epps' Garage, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Gen. map VIII, 1895, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

More markers nearby

Dr. Moses Waddel: Noted Educator And Presbyterian Ministerunder 1 mi
The Athens Double-Barreled Cannonunder 1 mi
The Stoneman Raid, Clarke Countyunder 1 mi
University of Georgiaunder 1 mi

On the National Register nearby

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.